Tasmanian cartoonists Josh Santospirito and Chris Downes performed their live comic ghost story, The Shipwright & the Banshees to a sold out audience as part of MONA FONA 2013 in Hobart last night. Chris Downes' stunning poster is available here.

The recently launched New Zealand comics anthology Faction Comics is now available in free digital form.

Fil Barlow is offering 5 day design tutorial sessions here. Series writer Brandon Graham shared Barlow's upcoming cover for Prophet #37. You may see it or you may not, Barlow shares via facebook an interview he did with Brandon Graham from Prophet #28.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

It’s been a big year for me comics wise – I’ve managed
to put out 4 books ranging from 30-70 pages each, had a number of interviews
and positive write-ups of my work, was involved in Big Arse 2, got featured in Best Art
Ever on Comics Alliance a few times, Brian Michael Bendis bought one of my books.…
it’s been very encouraging to say the least :P

But
if I had to name one major highlight, it would be
finally putting out Behind The Crooked Cross; it was something that I
wanted to
do for a long time and was reluctant to do so since it was a World War
II story
and it being so different to the comics I usually make. I'm glad that I
stepped out of my comfort zone and made something that was very
difficult and emotionally exhausting to create. In the long run, I think
it
paid off. I think it’s my best work to date.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the
first time in 2012?

It’s been a big year for Image Comics, and in
particular their reboot of Prophet was something of an eye-opener for me; it
made me discover the work of Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon
Roy. They each have different and unique styles but also work quite well
together, delivering an awesome, dream-like sci-fi environment, reminiscent of
Moebius. Another highlight was discovering some of the old stories that Steve
Ditko wrote and drew, such as Mr A, the H. Series and Avenging World, reflecting
his objectivist views. It just re-affirmed how great of an artist the man is.

I went on a trip to the US in July, and stayed a while
in New York. I had always been interested and influenced by New York culture
and it was an amazing, stimulating city, with so much character and history.
The Museum of Modern Art, Greenwich Village, Grand Central, Broadway, Little
Italy, I could have stayed there for a year and not get enough of the place; it
made me think about a new direction for my future comics.
It’s inspired me to make a story about it, which should be out at the end of
2013.

Have you implemented any significant changes
to your working methods this year?

I realised that if I wanted to make at least 4 comics
a year, I’d have to get a lot more stringent about my creative process. So I
decided that I’d draw for 6 hours each night, whether it be comic pages or just
random artwork if I’ve completed a comic. It’s important that you’re always
making art no matter what it is or how terrible you believe it may be.

I also decided that I’d begin writing the next comic
while finishing the current comic I’d be doing. It’s not because I want to
speed up the creative process, but simply that I have a lot of ideas for future
books, and writing them down in script form ensures that I’ll get around to
making them.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Naturally I’m looking forward to putting out more
books, and also to see how much more the local comic scene grows. It’s still
fairly small but the overall quality of the books is vastly improving, so I
think there are bright days ahead. Here’s to many more great comics.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Been a busy week relaxing in a little beach-side community. Amongst the bars, fish and chip shops, and cafes I found a little book exchange which yielded this beaten up gem below.

I have half a dozen Al Hartley drawn Spire Christian Comics. Fascinating in their optimistic biographical depictions of lives touched and turned around by faith and all illustrated with the supple flair Hartley used for Atlas and Archie comics. I love picking up comics like these from the seventies, cheap and disposable. Kids these days won't get to experience the joy of rifling through the corner store spinner rack with a handful of coins. Me, I'll keep digging up these treasures in the back corners of little shops in provincial towns around Australasia.

Here's some bit and pieces I've found in the ether of last week..

Veteran Melbourne cartoonist Bruce Mutard joined the internet not too long ago and has a site here with a portion of his work for various publishers. I gather this may still be a work in progress so check in for updates. I have a lengthy interview with Bruce gathering dust in the cupboard, I'll attempt to dust it off this week.

Fil Barlow writes about his recent animation shorts and comparing his original painted work with published pages from his 1980's Zooniverse mini series.

The State Library of Victoria has a touring exhibition of Australian comics featuring at The Ballarat Library Monday, 17 September, 6:00 - 7:30. Bernard Caleo and State Library staff will offer presentations covering the past, present and future of
the comics medium.A selection of modern comics for young and old, as well as rare
items from the SLV collection, including original newspaper comic strips
from the 1920s and classic Australian science fiction and superhero
comics from the 1940s to the '60s, featuring art by John Dixon, Stanley
Pitt and Keith Chatto.

Melbourne's open studio of comic creators, Squishface Studios, have an exhibition of art created on cardboard beer coasters in the upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival. Details here.

Go follow the Squishface tumblr for coverage of Squishface events like their Ladies' Drawing Auxilary nights (own dedicated blog here), and their recent Exhibitchin' here and here, as well as other Australian comic happenings.

Alex Hallatt recently celebrated 5 years of her KIng Features syndicated strip, Arctic Circle. Alex recently returned to England after nine years living in Australia and New Zealand. An Arctic Circle e-book was recently made available here. I'm preparing an interview with Alex for the Pikitia Press Book, she commented the following regarding her transition from clinical research into cartooning:

"Yeah, I hated it. It was working in an office. It was working with science. It was working in the pharmaceutical industry which is everything you think it would be. Which is not good. So I had this dream, you know some people say, it's a lottery, but I just thought one of these days I'm going to get my cartoons syndicated and that was always my dream. I'd do that on the side and send that off and get rejected."

Killeroo creator Darren Close has solicited for submissions to the first annual Gangwars anthology featuring stories set in the world of Killeroo. More details here.

I posted the third part of the Skinny arse speeches in a previous post. here are the first two featuring Bernard Caleo (MC), J Marc Schmidt, Tohby Riddle, David Blumenstein, and Gregory Mackay courtesy of Dark Matter Fanzine.

Paul Mason writes a stream of conscious post on reading reviews, the realities of independently producing a comic in Australia, and some process notes behind his Soldier Legacy comic here.

Pikitia Press Headquarters have the next volume of Ballantyne from Peter Foster due on the publishing schedule. Below is a page from one of the first stories Peter did for DC Thomson in 1979, Detective Sargeant Crag, a hard nosed copper who featured in Crunch. Sadly these stories are unlikely to ever be reprinted, like a lot of material produced for DC Thomson and their rival IPC the realities of a modern audience for the work is so minor to make reprints not financially viable. Perhaps these comics will get a digital afterlife at some stage.